Wednesday 25th December - Gerringong
Joyeux Noel, Frohe Weinachten, Feliz Navidad, Buon Natale, Feliz Natal, Wesolych swiat Bozego Narodzenia and a very Merry Christmas to you and your family, friends and loved ones. We had over 6mm of rain last night. Just steady rain that has soaked into the parched soil. I've no doubt that the dried grass will start to turn green over the next week. Hopefully this will have helped the fire fighters. You have to feel for them. It was 17.3 last night and a fine 28.3 during the day. It was a pleasant day, but no doubt it will get hot again and then the test will be for the air conditioner. We can see SA is starting to warm up again. Clive went to the 8.30 Mass at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church. Originally, this was a wooden church built in 1864, and was replaced by a stone church in 1880. This was then more than doubled in size in 1995. The majority of the glass windows were re-used from the original stone structure. In the new part of the church there is a sun and moon, round stained glass windows. These were donated by the family whose two sons were killed in a car accident. The window behind the Alter is a new one built for the church extensions. Outside the church is a memorial garden that is the resting place of the Parish Priest, V.R. Dean M.P. Malone. He was the PP here for 55 years. The views from the gardens to the sea are beautiful. We had a quiet Christmas day, with prawns for lunch followed by cherries for me and a mango for Clive. Afterwards some cheese and biscuits. Sounds a bit too healthy for us. Roast chicken and vegetables for dinner. We were going to buy a chicken from the IGA, but were told that if you haven't pre-ordered then there was none spare. Still we made do as we have plenty of food and did not over indulge in either food or liquids. We're planning to go to Kiama on Friday, to see the blow hole which Clive hasn't seen before. Trying to stay off the roads for a few days as there will probably be traffic everywhere. Clive bought me "Downton Abbey The Motion Picture' so that will be our entertainment tonight. This film cost around $20 million to make and as of December 20th had already grossed $190 million. Not a bad return on your investment.